Food

Food for Life – Raisin-Nut Treats

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Inspiration Counsels Against Stimulants and Narcotics

Happy Holidays! How are you going to spend this holiday? Are you going to think of your Best Friend and how much He has done for you? Or are you going to serve self and those you love better than Jesus? Do think this matter over seriously, dear friends, and determine by the grace of God to do better than you have in the past. God gave all Heaven for you, in the form of His Beloved Son, how can you do less for Him? So determine in your hearts that you will return to the Giver what He requires of you, and thank Him mightily for all His goodness to you in this past year. Then you will have a truly happy holiday and also be laying up treasure in Heaven where “moth and rust doth not corrupt.”

Now to continue last month’s article on the bad effects of narcotics and stimulants: “The continued use of these nerve irritants is followed by headache, wakefulness, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling, and many other evils; for they wear away the life forces. Tired nerves need rest and quiet instead of stimulation and overwork. Nature needs time to recuperate her exhausted energies. When her forces are goaded on by the use of stimulants, more will be accomplished for a time; but, as the system becomes debilitated by their constant use, it gradually becomes more difficult to rouse the energies to the desired point. The demand for stimulants becomes more difficult to control, until the will is overborne and there seems to be no power to deny the unnatural craving. Stronger and still stronger stimulants are called for, until exhausted nature can no longer respond.

“Tobacco is a slow, insidious, but most malignant poison. In whatever form it is used, it tells upon the constitution; it is all the more dangerous because its effects are slow and at first hardly perceptible. It excites and then paralyzes the nerves. It weakens and clouds the brain. Often it affects the nerves in a more powerful manner than does intoxicating drink. It is more subtle, and its effects are difficult to eradicate from the system. Its use excites a thirst for strong drink and in many cases lays the foundation for the liquor habit.

“The use of tobacco is inconvenient, expensive, uncleanly, defiling to the user, and offensive to others. Its devotees are encountered everywhere. You rarely pass through a crowd but some smoker puffs his poisoned breath in your face. It is unpleasant and unhealthful to remain in a railway car or in a room where the atmosphere is laden with the fumes of liquor and tobacco. Though men persist in using these poisons themselves, what right have they to defile the air that others must breathe?

“Among children and youth the use of tobacco is working untold harm. The unhealthful practices of past generations affect the children and youth of today. Mental inability, physical weakness, disordered nerves, and unnatural cravings are transmitted as a legacy from parents to children. And the same practices, continued by the children, are increasing and perpetuating the evil results. To this cause in no small degree is owing the physical, mental, and moral deterioration which is becoming such a cause of alarm.

“Boys begin the use of tobacco at a very early age. The habit thus formed when body and mind are especially susceptible to its effects, undermines the physical strength, dwarfs the body, stupefies the mind, and corrupts the morals.” The Ministry of Healing, 326–329.

Recipe – Raisin-Nut Treats

2 cups shelled nuts

6 tablespoons Fruit Source syrup

2 tablespoons raisins

2 tablespoons carob powder

½ cup sesame seeds

In blender grind nuts to flour and put in mixing bowl. Add syrup and mix well. Add the raisins and mix to a sticky mass. Measure carob powder and sesame seeds into two small bowls. With a teaspoon and your hands shape a lump of syrup-nut mixture into a one inch ball. Dip these, one at a time, in the carob powder and place on wax paper. After 15 minutes, the syrup will soak through the carob; now roll the carob covered balls into the sesame seeds. Makes about 36 treats.

Food for Life – Educate in Abstinence

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If February gives much snow, a fine summer it doth foreshow.” English Rhyme.

What has this year meant to you so far? We know that the Lord’s Second Coming is another year closer, and it behooves us to be ready for that glorious day!

“But what can be done to teach children and youth the evils of a practice of which parents, teachers, and ministers set them the example? Little boys, hardly emerged from babyhood, may be seen smoking their cigarettes. If one speaks to them about it, they say, ‘My father uses tobacco.’ They point to the minister or the Sunday-school superintendent and say, ‘Such a man smokes; what harm for me to do as he does?’ Many workers in the temperance cause are addicted to the use of tobacco. What power can such persons have to stay the progress of intemperance?

“I appeal to those who profess to believe and obey the Word of God: Can you, as Christians, indulge a habit that is paralyzing your intellect and robbing you of power rightly to estimate eternal realities? Can you consent daily to rob God of service which is His due, and to rob your fellow men, both of service you might render and of the power of example?

“Have you considered your responsibility as God’s stewards, for the means in your hands? How much of the Lord’s money do you spend on tobacco? Reckon up what you have thus spent during your lifetime. How does the amount consumed by this defiling lust compare with what you have given for the relief of the poor and the spread of the gospel?

“No human being needs tobacco, but multitudes are perishing for want of the means that by its use is worse than wasted. Have you not been misappropriating the Lord’s goods? Have you not been guilty of robbery toward God and your fellow men? Know ye not that ‘ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.’

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 20:1. Never was traced by human hand a more vivid picture of the debasement and the slavery of the victim of intoxicating drink. Enthralled, degraded, even when awakened to a sense of his misery, he has no power to break from the snare; he ‘will seek it yet again.’” Ministry of Healing, 329, 330.

Food for Life – Wine is a Mocker

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March Comes in Like a Lion and Goes Out Like a Lamb—English Proverb

I wonder how truly we can accept these old proverbs? We, here in America, have not seen too great a disparity in the weather thus far, for months, have we? It truly spells the soon coming of our Lord and Saviour in the clouds of heaven. I hope we will all be ready for that great day!

“No argument is needed to show the evil effects of intoxication on the drunkard. The bleared, besotted wrecks of humanity—souls for whom Christ died, and over whom angels weep—are everywhere. They are a blot on our boasted civilization. They are the shame and curse and peril of every land.

And who can picture the wretchedness, the agony, the despair, that are hidden in the drunkard’s home? Think of the wife, often delicately reared, sensitive, cultured, and refined, linked to one whom drink transforms into a sot or a demon. Think of the children, robbed of home comforts, education, and training, living in terror of him who should be their pride and protection, thrust into the world, bearing the brand of shame, often with the hereditary curse of the drunkard’s thirst.

Think of the frightful accidents that are every day occurring through the influence of drink. Some official on a railway train neglects to heed a signal, or misinterprets an order. On goes the train; there is a collision, and many lives are lost. Or a steamer is run aground, and passengers and crew find a watery grave. When the matter is investigated, it is found that someone at an important post was under the influence of drink. To what extent can one indulge the liquor habit and be safely trusted with the lives of human beings? He can be trusted only as he totally abstains.

Persons who have inherited an appetite for unnatural stimulants should by no means have wine, beer, or cider in their sight, or within their reach; for this keeps the temptation constantly before them. Regarding sweet cider as harmless, many have no scruples in purchasing it freely. But it remains sweet for a short time only; then fermentation begins. The sharp taste which it then acquires makes it all the more acceptable to many palates, and the user is loath to admit that it has become hard, or fermented.

There is danger to health in the use of even sweet cider as ordinarily produced. If people could see what the microscope reveals in regard to the cider they buy, few would be willing to drink it. Often those who manufacture cider for the market are not careful as to the condition of the fruit used, and the juice of wormy and decayed apples is expressed. Those who would not think of using poisonous, rotten apples in any other way, will drink cider made from them, and call it a luxury; but the microscope shows that even when fresh from the press, the pleasant beverage is wholly unfit for use.

Intoxication is just as readily produced by wine, beer, and cider, as by stronger drinks. The use of these drinks awakens the taste for those that are stronger, and thus the liquor habit is established. Moderate drinking is the school in which men are educated for the drunkard’s career.” Ministry of Healing, 330-333.

Food for Life – And Strong Drink is Raging

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Sweet April Showers do bring May flowers. —Tusser

So be patient with the elements! God has His own way of perfecting everything according to His will. Even our bodies— if we live according to His plan and design for our lives—will be healthful and beautiful as long as we serve Him and do His will and do the tasks He has given us to perform.

“Some who are never considered really drunk, are always under the influence of mild intoxicants. They are feverish, unstable in mind, unbalanced. Imagining themselves secure, they go on and on, until every barrier is broken down, every principle sacrificed. The strongest resolutions are undermined, the highest considerations are not sufficient to keep the debased appetite under the control of reason.”

“The Bible nowhere sanctions the use of intoxicating wine. The wine that Christ made from water at the marriage feast of Cana was the pure juice of the grape. This is the ‘new wine found in the cluster,’ of which the Scripture says, ‘Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it.’” Isaiah 65:8.

“It was Christ, Who, in the Old Testament, gave the warning to Israel, ‘Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.’ Proverbs 20:1. He Himself provided no such beverage. Satan tempts men to indulgence that will becloud reason and benumb the spiritual perceptions, but Christ teaches us to bring the lower nature into subjection. He never places before men that which would be a temptation. His whole life was an example of self-denial. It was to break the power of appetite that in the forty days fast in the wilderness He suffered in our behalf the severest test that humanity could endure. It was Christ who directed that John the Baptist should drink neither wine nor strong drink. It was He who enjoined similar abstinence upon the wife of Manoah. Christ did not contradict His own teaching. The unfermented wine that He provided for the wedding guests was a wholesome and refreshing drink. This is the wine that was used by our Saviour and His disciples in the first Communion. It is the wine that should always be used on the Communion table as a symbol of the Saviour’s blood. The sacramental service is designed to be soul-refreshing and life-giving. There is to be connected with it nothing that could minister to evil.

“In the light of what the Scriptures, nature, and reason teach concerning the use of intoxicants, how can Christians engage in the raising of hops for beer making, or in the manufacture of wine or cider for the market? If they love their neighbor as themselves, how can they help to place in his way that which will be a snare to him?” The Ministry of Healing, 333, 334.

This weekend I was rereading a little book that has meant a great deal to me through the years, and in it I read a statement that I cannot imagine not noticing before! “God, in counsel with His Son, formed the plan of creating man in His own image. Man was to be placed upon probation. He was to be tested and proved; if he should bear the test of God, and remain loyal and true through the first trial, he was not to be beset with continual temptations, but was to be exalted equal with the angels and made, thenceforth, immortal.” E. G. White, Confrontation, 10.

What a statement! What sad consequences to Eve’s departure from God’s express commands, and what a fearful doom has resulted for the inhabitants of this old earth as a result.

Recipe – Baked Nut Rice (A favorite recipe of Ellen G. White)

Combine:

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 cup peanut butter

4 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 teaspoon sage

sea salt to taste

The mixture should be thin-baked at 400º for 20-30 minutes. Delicious to fill baked green peppers.

Food – Temperance or Intemperance?

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What is it that brings May flowers?

Oh yes, April’s rains! We surely have had those haven’t we? How gracious is our Heavenly Father to know just what we need, and henceforth supplies it all. And in some cases, much more than we need…What terrible disasters, only to remind us once again that His coming is “even at the door.” In view of all of this, it does behoove each one of us to get our lives in readiness for that glorious day when He shall appear in all His beauty to reclaim all those who have been true and faithful to Him in all things.…even lifestyle!

“Often intemperance begins in the home. By the use of rich, unhealthful food, the digestive organs are weakened and a desire is created for food that is still more stimulating. Thus the appetite is educated to crave continually something stronger. The demand for stimulants becomes more frequent and more difficult to resist. The system becomes more of less filled with poison, and the more debilitated it becomes, the greater is the desire for these things. One step in the wrong direction prepares the way for another. Many, who would not be guilty of placing on their table wine or liquor of any kind, will load their table with food, which creates such a thirst for strong drink that to resist the temptation is almost impossible. Wrong habits of eating and drinking destroy the health and prepare the way for drunkenness.”

“There would soon be little necessity for temperance crusades, if in the youth who form and fashion society, right principles in regard to temperance could be implanted. Let parents begin a crusade against intemperance at their own firesides, in the principles they teach their children to follow from infancy, and they may hope for success.”

“There is work for mothers in helping their children to form correct habits and pure tastes. Educate the appetite; teach the children to abhor stimulants. Bring your children up to have moral stamina to resist the evil that surrounds them. Teach them that they are not to be swayed by others, that they are not to yield to strong influences, but to influence others for good.”

“Great efforts are made to put down intemperance; but there is much effort that is not directed to the right point. The advocates of temperance reform should be awake to the evils resulting from the use of unwholesome food, condiments, tea, and coffee…”

“All narcotics and unnatural stimulants that enfeeble and degrade the physical nature tend to lower the tone of the intellect and morals. Intemperance lies at the foundation of the moral depravity of the world. By the indulgence of perverted appetite, man loses his power to resist temptation.”

“In relation to tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcoholic drinks, the only safe course is to touch not, taste not, handle not. The tendency of tea, coffee, and similar drinks is in the same direction as that of alcoholic liquor and tobacco, and in some cases the habit is as difficult to break as it is for the drunkard to give up intoxicants. Those who attempt to leave off these stimulants will for a time feel loss, and will suffer without them. But by persistence they will overcome the craving, and cease to feel the lack. Nature may require a little time to recover from the abuse she has suffered; but give her a chance, and she will again rally, and perform her work nobly and well.” Ministry of Healing, 334, 335.

“Please keep in mind that when these words of God were written there were no cola drinks…. and these contain caffeine, which is so harmful, as is chocolate and cocoa. Is my prayer that God gives each and every one of you the victory over any of these to which you may be addicted.

Recipe – Grape Nut Pudding

1-1/2 tablespoons agar

¾ cup finely chopped raisins

¾ cup cooked prunes-finely-chopped

¾ cup Grape Nuts

2 cups boiling water or fruit juice

¾ cup finely chopped Walnuts

¼ cup chopped dates

Stir Agar into boiling water or fruit juice, and boil gently for 10 minutes, until clear. Stir in other ingredients. Let stand until set. Refrigerate.

Food for Life – Temperance or Intemperance?

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What is so rare as a day in June? – Lowell

“’Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong;…that saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar?…Thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.’” Jeremiah 22:13-17.

“This scripture pictures the work of those who manufacture and who sell intoxicating liquor. Their business means robbery. For the money they receive, no equivalent is returned. Every dollar they add to their gains has brought a curse to the spender.

“With a liberal hand, God has bestowed His blessings upon men. If His gifts were wisely used, how little the world would know of poverty and distress! It is the wickedness of men that turns His blessings into a curse. It is through the greed of gain and the lust of appetite that the grains and fruits given for our sustenance are converted into poisons that bring misery and ruin.

“Every year millions upon millions of gallons of intoxicating liquors are consumed. Millions upon millions of dollars are spent in buying wretchedness, poverty, disease, degradation, lust, crime, and death. For the sake of gain, the liquor seller deals out to his victims that which corrupts and destroys mind and body. He entails on the drunkard’s family poverty and wretchedness.…

“Houses of prostitution, dens of vice, criminal courts, prisons, almshouses, insane asylums, hospitals, all are, to a great degree, filled as a result of the liquor-seller’s work. Like the mystic Babylon of the Apocalypse, he is dealing in ‘slaves, and souls of men.’ Behind the liquor seller stands the mighty destroyer of souls, and every art which earth or hell can devise is employed to draw human beings under his power. In the city and the country, on the railway trains, on the great steamers, in places of business, in the halls of pleasure, in the medical dispensary, even in the church, on the sacred Communion table, his traps are set. Nothing is left undone to create and to foster the desire for intoxicants. On almost every corner stands the public house, with its brilliant lights, its welcome and good cheer, inviting the working man, the wealthy idler, and the unsuspecting youth.…

“To create the liquor appetite in little children, alcohol is introduced into confectionery. Such confectionery is sold in the shops. And by the gift of these candies the liquor seller entices children into his resorts.…

“More terrible still, the curse is striking the very heart of the home. More and more, women are forming the liquor habit. In many a household, little children, even in the innocence and helplessness of babyhood, are in daily peril through the neglect, the abuse, the vileness of drunken mothers. Sons and daughters are growing up under the shadow of this terrible evil. What outlook for their future but that they will sink even lower than their parents?”

—Ministry of Healing, 337-339.

Tofutti Cream

Place in blender:

1 cup water

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ cup cashews

½-¾ cup dates

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/3 cup pineapple juice

12 oz. soft tofu

When thoroughly blended, add 1 heaping cup of your choice of fruit such as blueberries, peaches, strawberries, apricots, boysenberries, persimmon, raspberries, blackberries, or mangoes.

Blend again and pour into ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen, put through a juicer or blender and serve at once.

Food for Life – The Lord is Coming, are You Ready?

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Last month we celebrated the beginning of our nation, the land of freedom! But just how long will we be able to enjoy this freedom? The signs are fast approaching and developing as we sit idly by enjoying our various hobbies and entertainment. Soon, very soon the Lord will decide that time will be no more. What then? Will you be able to “look in His face and say, ‘This is my Lord,’ are you ready for Jesus to come?”

We continue with our study, from Inspiration, concerning intemperance.

“The liquor interest is a power in the world. It has on its side the combined strength of money, habit, appetite. Its power is felt even in the church. Men whose money has been made directly or indirectly, in the liquor traffic, are members of churches, ‘in good and regular standing.’ Many of them give support to the church and sustain its ministers. They command the consideration shown to the money power. Churches that accept such members are virtually sustaining the liquor traffic. Too often the minister has not the courage to stand for the right. He does not declare to his people what God has said concerning the work of the liquor seller. To speak plainly would mean the offending of his congregation, the sacrifice of his popularity, the loss of his salary.

“But above the tribunal of the church is the tribunal of God. He declared to the first murderer, ‘The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground,” He will not accept for his altar the gifts of the liquor dealer. His anger is kindled against those who attempt to cover their guilt with a cloak of liberality. Their money is stained with blood. A curse is upon it.

“The drunkard is capable of better things. He has been entrusted with talents with which to honor God and bless the world; but his fellow men have laid a snare for his soul, and built themselves up by his degradation. They have lived in luxury, while the poor victims whom they have robbed, lived in poverty and wretchedness. But God will require for this at the hand of him who has helped to speed the drunkard on to ruin. He who rules in the heavens has not lost sight of the first cause or the last effect of drunkenness. He who has a care for the sparrow and clothes the grass of the field, will not pass by those who have been formed in His own image, purchased with His own blood, and pay no heed to their cries. God marks all this wickedness that perpetuates crime and misery.

“The world and the church may have approval for the man who has gained wealth by degrading the human soul. They may smile upon him by whom men are led down step by step in the path of shame and degradation. But God notes it all, and renders a just judgment. The liquor seller may be termed by the world a good business man; but the Lord says, ‘Woe unto him.’ He will be charged with the hopelessness, the misery, the suffering, brought into the world by the liquor traffic. He will have to answer for the want and woe of the mothers and children who have suffered for food and clothing and shelter, and who have buried all hope and joy. He will have to answer for the souls he has sent unprepared into eternity. And those who sustain the liquor-seller in his work are sharers in his guilt. To them God says, ‘Your hands are full of blood.’” Ministry of Healing, 340-342.

Recipe – Vanilla Ice Cream

Whiz thoroughly in blender:

2 cups water

1½ cups cashews

1 cup date rolls or pieces

2 bananas

½ teaspoon sea salt

1-2 tablespoons vanilla

Slowly add:

1 cup Pineapple Juice

Place in Freezer trays and when frozen drop cubes into a juicer or blender. This is especially good as a topping for any fruit pie or cobbler.

Food for Life – The Thirteen Impossibles

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Have you ever thought of your eternal life in this perspective? What a serious thought!

  1. “It is impossible for a man to present his body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, while continuing to indulge habits that are depriving him of physical, mental, and moral vigor.” Counsels on Health, 23.
  2. “It is impossible to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God when we continually fill them with corruption and disease by our own sinful indulgence.” Ibid., 24.
  3. “It is impossible for the spirit and power of the truth to sanctify a man, soul, body, and spirit, when he is controlled
    by appetite and passion.” Testimonies, vol. 3., 570.
  4. “A diseased body and disordered intellect, because of continuing indulgence in hurtful lust, make sanctification of the body and spirit impossible.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 44.
  5. “It is impossible for those who indulge the appetite to attain to Christian perfection.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 400.
  6. “…It is impossible for men and women, while under the power of sinful, health-destroying, brain-enervating habits, to appreciate sacred truth.” Counsels on Health, 21.
  7. “It is impossible for an intemperate man to be a Christian, for his higher powers are brought into slavery to the passions.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 51.
  8. “In order to render to God perfect service, we must have clear conceptions of His will. This will require us to use only healthful food, prepared in a simple manner, that the fine nerves of the brain be not injured, making it impossible for us to discern the value of the atonement, and the priceless worth of the cleansing blood of Christ.” Review and Herald, March 18, 1880.
  9. “It is impossible for those who make free use of flesh meats to have an unclouded brain and an active intellect.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 62.
  10. “It is impossible for any to enjoy the blessing of sanctification while they are selfish and gluttonous.” Counsels on Health, 66.
  11. “It is impossible for you to increase in spiritual strength while your appetite and passions are not under perfect control.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 63.
  12. “It is impossible for those who give the reins to appetite to attain to Christian perfection.” Ibid., 236.
  13. “It is impossible to work for the salvation of men and women without presenting to them the need of breaking away from sinful gratifications, which destroy the health, debase the soul, and prevent divine truth from impressing the mind. Men and women must be taught to take a careful review of every habit and practice, and at once put away those things that cause an unhealthy condition of the body.” Counsels on Health, 445.

“One of the highest attainments in the Christian life is to control appetite…without this victory, all hope of heaven is vain.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 206.

“Who will enter in through the gates into the city? Not those who declare that they cannot break the force of appetite.” Ibid., 19.

May God help each one of us to think over these statements, and by His grace so live that eternal life may be ours.

Recipe – Millett Patties

Whiz thoroughly in blender:

2 cups cooked millet

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup mashed tofu

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon Vegex

1 onion, chopped

½ teaspoon sea salt

soy milk to moisten

Mix ingredients well and form into patties. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Serve with cashew gravy.

Food for Life – Excessive Indulgence

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This month we are going to peruse a few vital statements in the Spirit of Prophecy as to the importance of healthful living. You are no doubt aware that food is not the whole message of true health reform! Some think that if they leave off animal products, they are health reformers. But you may be amazed as you follow these statements as to what really constitutes health reform in its entirety. Furthermore, you may also not be aware that there are many various books from the Spirit of Prophecy relating to healthful living and we have only covered the Ministry of Healing. So let me introduce you to some other statements from other valuable books written by the same author and inspired by God.

First I would like to refer you to the wonderful little book entitled “Temperance, 138.” “True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful, and to use judiciously that which is healthful.”

Now this encircles a wide range of activities, right? On the top of the same page we read, “Excessive indulgence in eating, drinking, sleeping, or seeing, is sin.”

Just what does this include? Let’s be perfectly honest with ourselves. Could this possibly include television? Just stop to think of all the rot that Satan has put in this machine! Oh yes, I’m perfectly aware there are many good things on tv—If you have the will power to select carefully, or turn it off when something comes on that shouldn’t be viewed by Christians. But who has the moral courage to do this? Or has the devil so infiltrated your life that you “Really can see no harm in it?” I will have to admit there are captivating things shown on your tv. For instance, there are “miraculous healings” on the air that could captivate you completely. But what is the difference between watching it on your tv screen or going “out to the desert to see Satan impersonating Christ” which he will do, and we are definitely told not to go out when that announcement is made.

“I saw Satan was at work in these ways to distract, deceive, and draw away God’s people, just now in this sealing time. I saw some who were not standing stiffly for present truth. Their knees were trembling, and their feet sliding, because they were not firmly planted on the truth, and the covering of Almighty God could not be drawn over them while they were thus trembling. Satan was trying his every art to hold them where they were, until the sealing was past, until the covering was drawn over God’ people, and they [were] left without a shelter from the burning wrath of God, in the seven last plagues.” Early Writings, 44.

“Man is God’s workmanship, His masterpiece, created for a high and holy purpose; and on every part of the human tabernacle God desires to write His law. Every nerve and muscle, every mental and physical endowment, is to be kept pure. God designs that the body shall be a temple for His Spirit. How solemn then is the responsibility resting on every soul …Every entrusted faculty is to be improved. Not one is to be neglected.” Temperance, 142, 143.

“With intense interest God and heavenly angels mark the self-denial, the self-sacrifice, and the agonizing efforts of those who engage to run the Christian race. The reward given to every man will be in accordance with the persevering energy and faithful earnestness with which he performs his part in the great contest.” Ibid., 144,145.

Recipe – Garbanzo Balls or Roast

2 cups soaked garbanzos

1 cup distilled water

2 cups cooked wheat 

1 pkg. George Washington onion seasoning

1 tsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. sea salt

Blend garbanzos with water until fine. Blend wheat and seasoning, and mix with garbanzos. Form into small balls and bake on a cookie sheet for 35 minutes at 350°. If desired, place in a covered casserole dish for 30 minutes at 350°. Remove cover and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Food For Life – Recipe for Baked Bananas

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No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, no fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds. – November!

How true this saying. But we can all have a Happy Thanksgiving. Most of us have a great deal to be thankful for. I am fully aware that this magazine goes all over the world; and that there are many in poverty, distress, hunger and without the comforts we have in America. You must always know that many prayers are going up from all of us for all of you, wherever you are. Let us be grateful to God for what we do have.

I am deeply impressed, at this time of year especially, to focus on SUGAR. Do you realize that this, too, is addictive? Oh how I wish I could tell you what a hold it had on me at one time in my life! It was so intense that I could not go a day without my chocolate-covered ice cream bar, until one day, when I finished the LAST one to ever pass my lips, I threw myself across the bed and sobbed out my despair to God. I begged Him to help me. I knew I was eternally lost if I could not conquer this one addiction in my life. True to His Word, help came. But make no mistake, I had to resolve first, that I was ready to overcome before the real help came. This is the TRUE answer to all of our dilemmas. We have to feel our deep need of God and His power in our lives before He will come to our assistance.

It was not an easy decision. But once I “purposed in my heart” to do right, the Lord came through as He has promised, and took the desire from me. Praise His holy name!

Sugar is so addictive, that even the law enforcement agencies recognize it. In a former Land Marks I referenced the case of Dr. Bernard Mason from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who headed the Nutrition and Behavior group. He testified, “as little sugar as possible for the imprisoned.” He stated that many bizarre behavioral attitudes, even homicidal and suicidal, came from sugar overdose.

We know from Counsels on Diets and Foods what the Lord has warned about this addictive substance, “Sugar clogs the system, it hinders the work of the living machine.” So why should we ever put sugar in our stomachs? Would we ever smoke a cigarette? Of course not! So why would we tempt our bodies by putting in a substance as addictive as sugar? As you are probably aware, all cane products are sucrose, not fruit sugars. What falls under this category? Anything that is made from the sugar cane family; all forms of sugar such as white refined, brown sugar, raw sugar, and even molasses. The most unrefined products have more food value, but they are still sucrose. So beware! Read your food labels, and remember that the first item is the most prevalent in that particular food product.

“True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful, and to use judiciously that which is healthful.” Temperance, 138. May the God of heaven impress you as to what you are doing that may keep you from heaven. “Life with Christ is an endless hope; without Him it is a hopeless end.”

Recipe – Baked Bananas

6-8 ripe bananas or plantains

Juice of 2 lemons

½ cup date sugar

Ground nuts (your choice)

Peel bananas, slice in half and place in rows in an oblong baking dish. Pour the lemon juice over the bananas and sprinkle date sugar and nuts over the top. Bake at 325˚ until a delicate brown. (30-45 minutes.)